Bilateral limitations with Israel and Russia have partially scuppered Air-India's plans to boost capacity by bringing in wet-leased aircraft.
The Indian flag carrier had brought in wet-leased aircraft as a stopgap measure to overcome capacity limitations, which have contributed to the steady decline in its market share to below 20 per cent, before it commits to ordering up to 22 aircraft for delivery between 1997 and 2002.
Air-India currently has six wet-leased aircraft - three Airbus A310s, two L.1101s and an IL-62 - and was planning to put one of the A310s onto its new Bombay-Tel Aviv route from the beginning of January.
But the Israeli Civil Aviation Authority refused to approve the use of the aircraft on security grounds and insisted that provisions in the bilateral forbid the use of aircraft not owned by national interests of the two countries.
As a result India has asked for a review of the one year- old air services agreement with Israel and officials from the two countries were due to meet in New Delhi at the end of January in an attempt to iron out their differences. Meanwhile, Air-India intends to operate one of its own B747-400s on the route from the beginning of February - an aircraft that is unsuited for developing a new route.
The Russians are similarly impeding Air-India's plans. The flag carrier currently operates an Il-62, wet-leased from Aeroflot, on the Delhi-Moscow route but wants to upgrade to a wetleased A310 from Air Club Canada. Moscow refused because the air service agreement between the two countries stipulates that aircraft operating between the two countries be owned by one of the designated carriers and crewed by nationals of either country. This leaves Air India with no choice but to use leased aircraft from Aeroflot.
These two bilateral sticking points have overshadowed further wet-lease plans aimed at modernising the carrier's ageing fleet. Air-India is looking to wetlease four more aircraft in the next few months - one 200-250 seater and three 400-seaters - and is phasing out six B747-200s over an undefined period of time.
Ravi Prasad
Source: Airline Business
